My Life According to Miley Cyrus

I'm sure by now you have heard Miley Cyrus's "Party In The USA." It has been popular on the radio for a couple of years now and is a song that I guiltily find myself listening to frequently.

It may sound kinda silly, but I have learned a lot from this song. It kept me strong and gave me courage when I first moved to Boston. With that said, let me explain before you [probably very accurately] label me a looney.

When I first moved to Boston two years ago, I was excited at the prospect of moving to a big city. I think a lot of people dream of making it big and moving to "The City" whether that city be New York City, Los Angeles, etc. Boston may not have been The City, but it was a big city and I was sold.

Little did this Midwestern Girl (born and raised) realize what a drastic change it would be. I thought it wouldn't be too bad considering that I had lived in Milwaukee, WI and Columbus, OH which are both large Midwestern cities, but they pale in comparison to the enormity of East Coast cities. The whole experience reminds me of some of the lyrics of the song. I started seeing famous landmarks and began to realize how real the move was for me (like seeing the Hollywood sign for the first time). Or you see all of the girls wearing stilettos instead of tennis shoes (not really that far from the truth). I mean, I am living in a city so big that it has a subway system. That after living in cities where people rarely even use the bus and you have to call the cab company if you want to take a taxi somewhere. You can't just flag it down from the street.

I figured, at the very least, people will always be people, but even people in different cities value different things. In Boston, people value expensive cars, designer purses and clothes, low number license plates, the Red Sox, hoity toity wining and dining, a vacation house on the Cape, and prime driving position everywhere (Massholes). Boston is like a mini New York City. People are always in a hurry to get somewhere (or nowhere) and they don't care how rude they are along the way. Its every person for themselves. In the Midwest, people value t-shirts and jeans, cheap beer in the company of friends, college football, dining at the local bar and grill and vacationing at the lake. People usually have time to say hi to strangers and hold open doors. There are just some things about cities that you can't learn online or from books. You actually have to live there and experience it. These are things that you can't prepare for and you just have to "wing it" when you get there.

Now, I don't know if Miley ever actually felt the way she did in the song or if she's just singing the feelings of some songwriter, but I can definitely relate. You can feel so small and insignificant and out of place when you move somewhere new, but there are some things that never change. There are some things that will always remind you of home. In Miley's case, it was a Britney Spears and a Jay-Z song that reminded her of home. I had Miley Cyrus' song.

Now, I promise that was the last lame blog post.

1 comments:

Ali said...


Aw, I know the feeling of being able to relate to a song to that extent - at the moment mine is 'Someone Like You' by Adele (yeah, man issues... go figure). It's great that there's a song you can turn to in order to lift your spirits!



Post a Comment